I am wondering why the CB&Q 504 was used to pull the Zephyr trainset on Sunday, rather than BN-1, BN-3, or BN 9908 (which, I believe, was acquired with the intention of being used as backup power for the Zephyr or 'silver cars' after repainting to CB&Q silver and renumbering to CB&Q 9976). Is there a mechanical problem with the CB&Q 9911A after its 'road trip' to Rock Island?

I was wondering about that too. It would seem logical to have had the entire Zephyr set operating on such a high-attendance, high-visibilty event, especially after the press coverage the Rock Island visit received.

The 504 was used in place of 9911 as we need to maximize the out of use time for the 9911's federal blue card. Running the 9911 just the one day this past Sunday would have taken 34 days of out of use time away.

Thank you, James. I was sure there was a reason, but I didn't know what it was. I was unaware there are federal rules governing usage/non-usage time of operable museum locomotives. Perhaps a good topic for a future Rail & Wire piece.

Thanks for the reply. Most of us know about FRA boiler inspections and 'tube time' for our steam locomotives, but this is the first time I have heard mention of a federal blue card. Could you explain what it is, and how it affects operating time for IRM's internal combustion collection?

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